Thursday, July 26, 2018

90th Birthday Celebration ~ 1st Party!

When you turn 90, you deserve two parties, right? Especially if you celebrate two different birth dates!

My sister in South Carolina and our family here in Virginia coordinated the first of Granny's 90th birthday celebrations which took place in Granny's hometown of South Boston, Virginia.

Two weekends ago we hit the road loaded down with punch bowls, two large frozen Costco birthday cakes, and various other paraphernalia. The celebration took place at the church Granny attended when she lived there.

Here's Hannah pinning on the birthday girl's corsage, while my sister looks on:We were thrilled with all the folks who turned out to honor my mom...church folks we've known for years, close family and friends, and relatives who drove long distances to attend.

Here's my mom, aka "Granny" here on the blog, greeting folks as they arrive...in this case the pastor and his wife:Tom, below left, welcomed everyone and told a bit of background of my mom's life growing up. She was one of 12 children and is the only one remaining--she's had lots of joys along the way: two daughters, four grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. But, of course, there have also been hardships along the way.

Here's where Tom told the story of my mom always celebrating her birthday on a certain date because that's what she'd been told! Her birth certificate told a different story when it was checked a few years ago. Nope, she was really born on another date, of all things!To this day, she still thinks of her birthday as the one she celebrated for 80 years before finding out that it was wrong!

Here are more folks gathered to visit and recall memories from long ago:My mom thoroughly enjoyed herself meeting and greeting everyone...here she is with my cousin Jimmy and his wife, whom I met for the first time! And the little lady sitting next to Mama will be 92 in September!Here are more relatives that I last saw years and years ago at a family reunion....my mom was so glad they all came. This actually was almost like a family reunion for everyone to meet again!

A photo of the welcoming table with photos of her great-grandchildren:

A dear cousin and her husband greet my mom. We enjoyed visiting Carolyn and Bud at their home a few years ago, which I wrote about here:Tom and I below with long-time friends Donna and Allen who traveled from Chesapeake to be here. They came to visit us in our home a few years ago, and I wrote about it here. They were in our wedding 38 years ago! As you can see, it was so good to see lots of folks again:My mom with a dear niece and nephew, whom I grew up with and went on vacations with through the years:

Punch server extraordinaire, Jonathan, helped out at the party:As you can see, I could go on and on posting pictures of our wonderful celebration back in our hometown! I'll close with a couple more.

Here I am with Carolyn, a dear friend whom you've seen here on the blog before when she's visited us. She volunteered to bring the beautiful flowers from her garden that you've seen in some of the pictures:

That really was like a family reunion! Looks like so much fun. I had never heard the story about Granny's 2 birthdays, so funny. I do recognize a few faces, what a wonderful celebration for your mom, she must have felt so loved and cherished. <3